If you’re in the process of buying an outdoor wireless security camera, there are several things that you need to keep in mind when you’re shopping around for deals online. After you’ve gotten acquainted with the basics, you need to know if a wireless model is going to be best for your setup. Then you need to find a camera that is protected enough to be subjected to the whims of Mother Nature. Finally, you’ll have to examine the technical specifications of the camera to make sure that it will work in the location where it’s going to be installed. Follow these tips to make sure that you get the best outdoor wireless security camera systems for your money.
Wireless Security Camera Basics
Wireless security cameras send video wirelessly to a receiver in your home. The receiver looks like a router for a wireless modem, but it connects to your TV, Monitor, VCR, or DVR and either displays or records video that the cameras capture. If you get a outdoor wireless IP security camera, you can even connect to the internet and the camera will have a security address that you can navigate to and view the feed from anywhere in the world. The signal strength and effectiveness varies depending on local conditions, the housing on the camera, and the strength of the camera and the receiver, but the best cameras today will be able to transmit around 300 feet if there’s a line of sight, significantly less if the signal has to go through a lot of walls.
Wireless or Wired Security Camera?
There are several major strengths and weaknesses that you need to keep in mind when you’re planning to install your camera system. First, because your security camera is wireless, it is inherently much less security than wired cameras. Anyone with a receiver nearby can possibly pickup your signal and hack it to view the feed. So if your camera is going to be broadcasting things you might not want others to see, think twice about installing a wireless model, especially if you’re in an urban environment where you’ll have many neighbors within a close radius. Some newer cameras will actually change the frequency of the signal occasionally to cut down on this threat.
The second major limitation that you have to worry about when installing wireless cameras is that other wireless appliances can disrupt the signal and cause a lot of background noise. This is particularly true with cameras that use the same 2.4 GHz frequency that many wireless access points and cordless phones use. If you use these appliances in your home and you also install a wireless camera, the signal will most likely come in very weak unless the receiver is placed relatively close to the camera. Your best option to overcome this is to find a camera that broadcasts on a signal that is higher than those of normal appliances so it will not be interfered with by them.
However, despite these weaknesses, there are several very good reasons why wireless cameras are popular. First, there are no wires, which make them very quick and easy to install. Most of these cameras are plug and play, and the only handyman skills that you’ll need are how to turn a screw to mount the camera. Not having to worry about running the wires also means you’ll have more possible locations to place the camera. Finally, the wireless nature of the camera makes it easily moved as well if you don’t like where it’s at or if the picture isn’t coming in good enough.
Finding a Wireless Security Camera for Outdoors
Cameras that you are planning on using outdoors need to be more flexible and rugged than cameras that are built for indoor use. This is because as the day wanes into night and night gives way to day, the camera is subject to a lot of different lighting conditions. You’ll want a camera that can give you solid shots both day and night, without whiting out day shots or having blacked out night shots. The camera will also be subjected to all the dust, wind, rain, heat, and cold, that nature can throw at it so the housing will need to be able to protect the camera in the most extreme weather your location has. There are several things that you should look for to ensure this.
First, if you plan on having your camera record at day and night, it should come with some infrared LEDs that will allow it to see at night, at the very least. More sophisticated cameras will actually have the camera automatically adjust the aperture to light levels. The casing on the camera should be rated at least IP65 or higher. This makes sure that it is completely protected from dust and water spray, but stops short of making the camera completely waterproof (which you’d pay a lot more for). The best cases tend to be metal because plastic can warp in the heat outside. However, metal can interfere with the wireless transmission, so you should make sure the case comes with an external antenna to boost the signal. Finally, if you live in an area with extreme heat or cold, you should look into camera housing that contains a fan and/or a heater. This makes sure that your camera stays at the right operating level the whole year round.
Outdoor Wireless Security Camera Specs
Finally, when you’re looking to buy an outdoor security camera, you need to look at the specification and make sure that it will be able to perform in the areas and times of day that you want it to. One of the major things you need to look at is the camera’s lux rating. The lux rating is the measurement of how much light the camera needs to work effectively. If your camera is infrared and needs no light to function, it will be rated at 0 lux. One lux is roughly what a full moon in the tropical latitudes is, 400 lux is about sunrise or sunset, and direct sunlight is 130,000 lux. Try to judge the light level that your camera will need and use this to find which cameras that you need.
The viewing angle and depth of field are also incredibly important for outdoor cameras. The viewing angle of a camera is how must of the area around the camera can be seen. Indoor cameras can have a shorter angle, but for outdoor cameras you’ll want at least around sixty degrees. Depth of field is how far out the camera can focus. For most cameras today, this is several hundred feet in the daytime, but with infrared cameras the night vision capability shrink drastically, sometimes getting to as low as ten to twenty-five feet.
By keeping these basic things in mind, you’ll be able to find the best outdoor wireless camera for your home or business, and if you comparison shop online you’ll be able to save a ton of money doing it as well!
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Greg is a the owner and main contributor to Outdoor Security Camera Reviews. 
